Introducing FPL Goops

fplgoops: Season 18/19 Finale – A Prequel. Here’s Goops!

“What a bloody shambles. I’m totally done with fpl this year.” “At one point mid gameweek I had 7 points from 7 players and I didn’t even have Son!” “I can’t believe none of my moves have worked out. This is my worst FPL year in ages. “ “It’s embarrassing, I’m outside the top 50k.”

There seems to be an unprecedented level of mass hysteria in the FPL community this year – bordering on hyperbole – for less than adequate FPL ranks after an unpredictable season.

I regularly listen to a couple of podcasts, I participate in a couple of Slack and WhatsApp groups but I’ve largely shunned Twitter.

I find it a bit maddening, but I suppose I might need to get involved if anyone likes this blog and follows me.

I’m definitely no expert on FPL stats – I haven’t got the first clue about the best XGI or NTI or some other commonplace 3 letter acronym you’d expect to hear on LoD . Bloody great TV – you must watch it. OK OK I digress.

Still how many of us refer to FPL players by business level abbreviations and expect everyone to know what we mean. Gone are the jovial references to JT, Sparky and Stevie G. We’ve now got clinical acronyms – CHO, VVD, TAA, RLC, MGW, JWP to name but a few.

I’m not positioning myself as an FPL guru whose sage advice will lead you to a guaranteed top 10k finish. I’m just Goops. An everyman FPL player. An ordinary guy who love football and like you, has a penchant for FPL.

A bang average player, not in the top 100k this year but with a few top 50k finishes in the past and one stellar 7k finish 2 seasons ago when I swept the boards of my MLs. Oh those were the days.

And folks, this is why I encourage you to read on.

For on these pages and amongst these words will resonate the views of someone who, week in, week out, shares your highs and lows, regularly ignores his family to ask a bunch of people he’s never met ‘who got the assist?’… followed by inevitable sighs in disbelief as his rank tanks when the player he just sold with a ludicrous effective ownership puts away a 5 minute brace.

So what’s the deal with this blog?

Well it’s simple. I’m a huge FPL fan. It’s all consuming, probably my biggest vice. I also dabble in creative writing. I want to combine two hobbies into establishing something that defines how I tick, that I can be proud of, and that others may read, enjoy and benefit from.

Plus, as a Man United fan, I need a bloody distraction from the woeful and miserable state of my football club and what better outlet than FPL.

And what can you expect as a regular reader?

I’ll write a weekly blog to dissect my gameweek performance to celebrate my brilliant picks, to commiserate my disastrous hits, to scream blue murder at my wrong captain choice (AGAIN!), to empathise with the great picks on paper that just didn’t come off, to high five the differential pick that delivered a healthy return and/or rank rise.

An ordinary, human response echoing how we all feel once the gameweek filled with such promise is over.

I’ll probably take some time to preview the next gameweek, share hopes, fears and rationale on moves I’ll consider making, and include a couple of features like my ‘unexpected star of the week’ and ‘top differential’.

Just don’t treat these streams of consciousness as gospel. I’m not trying to be a clever arse. Don’t berate me on Twitter. Don’t ridicule me when Captain Hindsight kicks in and shames the move I made for the obvious disaster it was clearly destined to be.

I’m just using the same information available to you all, the huge plethora of advice shared across numerous channels but in the end I’m just me, playing on instinct.

Journey through an FPL season

Ultimately I hope that joining me on my individual FPL journey in 2019/20 will be fun as I attempt a more light-hearted take on life as an FPL addict. This will feel very different to the so-called expert views out there from the established FPL elite and will resonate with those of you who, like me, just love playing FPL and will have empathy with my season journey.

That in fact my journey echoes yours and hence makes this a more palatable read than those just showing off.

As a little taster, here’s my journey through Gameweek 37

Friday night games are exciting in fpl world. It means one extra day dedicated to following the fortunes of teams I wouldn’t ordinarily give a damn about. Personally I always like to have some representation in the game – though not the captaincy. Imagine if your captain blanks. It totally ruins your weekend before it’s started and your other half will never fully understand – unless they also love fpl!.

In GW37 I had Digne. Cleanie. Assist! 3 bonus. Result! Absolute legend. Sufficient to move my life rank back above 200k. OK this is really nothing to write home about but I’ve been teetering outside the top 200k for the past 10 gameweeks or so having had a season high of 13k in GW8 – I made a blinding start by my standards and thought this season would be epic. It’s been a damp squib.

Other than a brief period early season owning Mendy I have madly overlooked City defensive assets all season. Especially Laporte. So when Vinny scored that screamer, my goodness I thought fair play but ownership is going to be low and as ever my first thought was who got the assist? Please let it be Sterling and not Aguero. And as you can imagine to my absolute horror the Slack lit up with Laporte A, what a lad!

Bloody Laporte! Crestfallen. Assist, cleanie, no doubt some bonus. The git. Rank fall of 20k just there but at least a green arrow, my 6th in the last 8 gameweeks.

A great deal better than my sea of red between 20 and 30.

My overriding emotion is still this: FPL is so unfair.

I finished this gw on 60 points – I really can’t complain – and 187k rank with that final unpredictable week to go. Respectable given I was 450k a few weeks back but so disappointing after such a promising start.

Goops’ Unexpected Star of the Week

Quite slim pickings for a standout unexpected star. I’m going with Arnie. Some might not think this was unexpected given he’s probably angling for a move so thought he’d better turn up but his form has been so utterly wretched I’m sure he was overlooked by most but turned in a major haul. One to potentially watch for GW38 – playing Watford who will have more than half an eye on the FA Cup final.

Goops’ Weekly Pick

Well title race aside it’ all done and dusted so lots of teams on the beach could either lend itself to a goal fest or a drab 0-0. Hard to tell which game will deliver. A lot of excitement around Palace vs Bournemouth and much bandwagoning around Zaha captain. Not a bad shout despite his terrible home fpl form. I’m going with a Fulham player. The oft maligned Mitrovic!

Mitrovic’s stats are something else of late. He’s playing his last game for Fulham (probably) and is also firmly in the shop window. His home record is decent and he’s playing against his old club who shunned him as not good enough so has a major point to prove. You’ll see over time I’m very superstitious about players with connections to clubs. Last day brace incoming. Just don’t hold me to it!